Geese stop play

Two wild geese caused a short and surprise delay to the second day of MotoGP testing at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia.

The birds were spotted between turns eight and nine, and circuit officials decided the only option was to bring out the red flags to avoid a potential incident.

A circuit official said: “They are big things and much worse than hitting a gull which is pretty common here.”

“They are about three feet tall and we had to stop the session and wait for the bikes to come in before we got them off the track. We had to stop it because they were about a foot inside the kerb. The noise of the bikes might have spooked them and it would have been messy.”

Riders tangling with local wildlife is nothing new in Phillip Island, with several riders in the past including Troy Corser and Colin Edwards hitting 18kg seagulls.